Ermahgerd you guys! It was 85 degrees today. Eighty-five. You heard me bitch and moan about cold weather for the past couple of months and in all honesty, I started to doubt that spring would ever show up again. Well, I might have been right, ‘cuz right now it feels more like summer, summer, summertiiiimmeee. :D
Warm sun rays on my skin, cool breeze in my hair and a cold glass of water in my hand- this pretty much describes me on last Saturday afternoon. During spring and summertime, I love infusing my water with skin skin-loving ingredients like cucumber or watermelon, and when I’m feeling lazy I’ll just throw in a few lemon ice-cubes in my glass that I have previously frozen. I had quite a lot of fresh rosemary and mint left over that I didn’t want to go to waste and thought, why not do the same thing with my herbs? (I blame Pinterest!)
When it comes to these herb and fruit infused ice cubes, the possibilities are endless. Some of my favorites include: mint (obsessed!), rosemary, raspberries, blueberries, lemons, limes (duh), cucumber and watermelon. I think that the concept is pretty much self explanatory, right? I bought my ice-cube trays on amazon (just like pretty much everything else, hah!) these are the ones that I have and they work great. They’re very flexible and ice-cubes pop right out- I remember back in the day those trays were so stiff you needed a hammer to get them out. I’m not kidding, that’s what my dad used to do.
When I make these, especially when using herbs or citrus fruit, I like to put my herbs in the the tray and muddle them a little with a muddler like this one before pouring water over them. The reason for this is that it helps to release the aroma and flavors. I wouldn’t recommend you do that with blueberries though, it can get quite messy once the ice starts melting. I usually use bottled mineral water, but if you want your ice cubes to be perfectly clear and not cloudy, use boiled water. You can not only use these in your water, but also in your vodka soda. With weather finally being nice and warm and with barbeque season about to be open, you can also easily impress your guess when serving drinks with these pretty ice cubes.
Did you guys ever try making these? If so, what is your favorite combo? I’d love to know!